


Stale Questions

by Goldy



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 17:12:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1825894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldy/pseuds/Goldy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing scene from Journey’s End. Jack and Rose take a moment to catch up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stale Questions

**Title** : Stale Questions  
 **Disclaimer** : I don’t own Doctor Who.  
 **Characters/Pairing** : Jack, Rose, Ten, Donna. Doctor/Rose.  
 **Summary** : Missing scene from Journey’s End. Jack and Rose take a moment to catch up.  
 **Spoilers** : Journey’s End  
 **Rating** : G  
 **A/N** : I’m pretending that after the Doctor and Rose got their reunion hug, Rose and Jack actually had time to talk and stuff. Mostly because it’s a pretty serious point of contention with me that Mickey and Jack had more of a reunion than Rose and Jack. RTD might have forgotten what happened in Utopia, but _I_ haven’t.

I've been hanging onto this fic for a while. I don't know why I never posted it. Not betaed.

****

The hug drags on and Jack eventually shifts his gaze away, feeling like he’s intruding on a very private moment. It’s probably good he and Donna are there, come to think of it. If not, the Doctor and Rose might never get back to saving the universe.

The Doctor and Rose finally release each other, but they stand close, grinning at each other, generally oblivious to anything else going on around them. Donna beams at them like she considers herself personally responsible for bringing them back together again. He sighs and rubs idly at an eyebrow. He hasn’t felt this invisible for a while.

 _The walls have closed_ , the Doctor had said. Not so closed anymore, are they? Though with 27 planets in the sky, he’s betting something awfully powerful is at work here.

He clears his throat and tries to keep his voice light. “Don’t I get a hug?”

Rose glances over, eyes clearing like she’s only just registering his presence. _Great_ , he thinks. It’s always nice to have that ego kicked back into check.

“Jack,” she says, very softly. Her eyes sweep him up and down and then she softens. “Hi.”

He feels some of his tension melt away. “Hi yourself.”

And then she’s in his arms and he’s chuckling into her hair, surprised by how relaxed he feels. It’s been years since the Doctor, Rose, and Jack (or Doctor and Rose, and Jack), but in spite of his immortality and Torchwood and being stranded on a Gamestation, the longing has never gone away.

“Oh, I haven’t seen you in _forever_ ,” she says. She squeezes him once and then releases him.

“No kidding,” he says. “How have you been?”

“You know,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Saving planets, crossing universes, the usual. You?”

The Doctor grins at Rose, eyes never leaving her even though she’s no longer looking at him. Jack feels a twinge of jealousy. Rose made him into what he is today, and the Doctor left _him_ behind. Jack tries not to blame Rose, but he wishes a part of the Doctor did. Just a small part.

“Actually,” he says, and he’s still looking at the Doctor, “it’s been a strange few years.”

“Yeah?” says Rose.

The Doctor’s smile slips and he meets Jack’s eyes over the top of Rose’s head. He shakes his head, eyes plainly holding a warning. The Doctor’s message is clear: _Don’t ask. Don’t you dare ask._

He almost does, anyway. After all these years, these decades and centuries, he deserves to know _why_. What did Rose see when she made him immortal? Why did she choose him?

He almost justifies it by telling himself that Rose has a right to know, that it’s not fair for the Doctor to decide what she is and isn’t capable of knowing.

“I’m heading my own team now,” he says quickly, meeting Rose’s gaze again. “Torchwood.”

“Really?” says Rose. He’s pretty sure she all ready knows, but she manages to sound genuinely happy for him. “That’s great. Good for you.”

He finds himself grinning bashfully. He forgot what it felt like to have Rose Tyler looking at him with that much pride.

“It’s not all it’s cooked up to be. Lots of stale coffee.” He won’t ever tell her about the rest of it. There’s the loss—there’s Owen and Tosh, and that’s the _last_ thing he wants Rose to be thinking when she’s looking at him.

His eyes tick to the Doctor again. He looks troubled, but Jack won’t break this silent promise they’ve made. If Rose gets the truth about what happened, it won’t be from him.

He draws in a breath and can’t stop himself from getting in one last dig. “There are some nice toys, though. But nothing on that gun you were carrying. Tell me I can replicate that design.”

Rose smiles tightly. “Parallel world, Jack,” she says. “That sort of secret might… I dunno—damage all of space and time.”

The Doctor shoots Rose a fond look and then turns to the console, apparently unfazed by Rose’s new willingness to arm herself.

Not that this is a surprise. There’s nothing Rose Tyler could do that the Doctor would ever hold against her.

But he knows all that. He has since the moment he first stepped onto this ship and they both changed his life forever. Does it matter? Has it ever really mattered?

“It’s really good to have you back, Rose,” he says. “It hasn’t been the same without you.”

Rose gives him a genuine smile. “Thanks,” she says, and she looks around for the Doctor, relaxing when she sees him. “It’s good to be back.”


End file.
